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December 27, 2004
From El Camino Real
Mr. Culbreath makes a real point with this note:
"The real problem today is that there are so many Catholics and so few saints among us. The dearth of saints is without a doubt a chastisement for the rest of us, for God doesn't send graces to those who will not receive them. The Church in America would be thoroughly scandalized by another Saint Francis, to say the least. We know what the present modernist hierarchy would do with his rigid orthodoxy. But what would the wealthy, glitzy, celebrity-making neo-conservative establishment do with his preaching of acesticism, poverty, and obscurity? What would the fire-breathing know-it-all traditionalist attack dogs do with his charity, humility, and obedience? What would the respectable and worldly-wise among us do with his bizarre and other-worldly quirks? "
What wonderful insights for all of us. Thank you.
Posted by Steven Riddle at December 27, 2004 9:35 AM
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Comments
My guess is all those types would do more or less what they did when St. Francis himself appeared in Italy in the Thirteenth Century. People say St. Francis rebuilt Christ's Church, and maybe he did, but you could still swing a dead cat without hitting sanctity after St. Francis's death, if you know what I mean.
It's often been pointed out that the Church doesn't need another St. Francis, it needs Sts. you and me. I wonder, though, what Jeff means by saying "there are so few saints among us." There should be more, certainly -- I personally know one man who should be a saint who isn't -- but how would we have any idea how many saints there are among us? Not only is our sense of what constitutes sanctity imperfect, our knowledge of what people are doing is extremely limited.
Perhaps we don't need a big-time saint now. Perhaps we need a lot of small-profile saints, and perhaps we have them. Time will tell -- and if it won't, eternity will.
Posted by: Tom at December 28, 2004 9:44 AM